St.-Jakob-Kirche, Medieval church in Penzing, Vienna, Austria.
St.-Jakob-Kirche is a church at Einwanggasse 30A in Vienna's 14th district, Penzing, dedicated to Saint James the Elder. A 13th-century chapel was replaced by a Gothic church in the 14th century, and in 1758 court architect Matthias Gerl remodelled it in Baroque style, moving the main entrance to the west side. Its tower, rebuilt after a 1945 fire, stands 38.33 metres tall under a steep roof.
The church traces its origins to a chapel founded in 1267 on donated land in the Penzing area. It endured severe damage during major sieges of the region in later centuries.
The high altar, donated by Cardinal Archbishop Christoph Anton von Migazzi in 1776, holds an altarpiece from the school of Franz Anton Maulbertsch showing Saint James the Elder, flanked by near life-size figures of Saint Joachim with the child Mary and Saint Joseph with the infant Jesus. The blessed Premonstratensian priest Jakob Franz Alexander Kern was baptised here on 19 April 1897.
The church stands at Einwanggasse 30A in Penzing, with the former parish cemetery now within Matznerpark at Einwanggasse 55. The Late Gothic tabernacle pillar was moved across the street from the main portal after the cemetery closed in 1879, so look for it opposite the entrance. The tower reaches 38.33 metres.
A Late Gothic tabernacle pillar from the 15th century stands in front of the church, originally functioning as a light fixture in the cemetery. This uncommon example of medieval cemetery structures reveals how practical objects also carried artistic value.
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